I tried doing a search for oil consumption or Fords allowable specs on how much oil a motor uses. I can't seem to find any info. My Focus has 17,000 miles on it and i don't believe it burns oild but its going somewhere. Earlier on, I happened to check the oil because it was around 4000 miles since my second oil change. There was no oil on the dipstick. I brought it in immediately and the have been monitoring it. Now that it has more miles on it, I have let it go to about 7000 miles while watching it. It seemed to be staying at a scratch mark the tech made in the dipstick, and I just checked it this morning. Its below the hash mark now but above the lower hole and withing the x's. The oil looks fairly clean still and I am bringing it in when I have time to change the oil, hopefully today. Can someone tell me how much oil is between the holes? Is it a quart? I also looked on my Ford and don't see any mention of this problem in my vehicle maintainence history like the dealer is hiding something. I don't get any satisfactoin surveys. Whats up with that?

The way the motor is set in the 2012 focus, you really have to have the car on level ground to get a real reading of oil level.
Second, how long you wait from engine 'off' to pulling the dipstick has a big impact on the oiil level on the dipstick too.
If the car is at a curb, where usually the car is tilted slightly down at the curb, that alone is going to make the dipstick look like you have no oil.

Most manufacturers, including Ford, consider oil consumption of up to 1 quart every 1,000 miles as "normal" (i.e. they won't repair to improve).

Also, while this may not help your problem, it seems the Focus is more sensitive than most to temperature, time and location when checking oil level. The manual says to check oil level when warm, on a level surface 15 minutes after the engine is turned off: it takes a while for oil to return to the sump and, if you check when hot and check again when cold, you will find the level is 1/8 - 1/4 quart lower.

While you likely realize this, the oil should be checked more frequently than once every 4,000 miles. Every fuel fill seems about right.

lol 1 quart of oil every 1000 miles? im a mechanic and ive never heard that one. So...let me know if my math is off, but 1 qt every 1k miles, the oil change interval on the focus is roughly 10k miles according to ford, and the engine takes 4.6k qts with the filter, so after driving 10k miles you are now 5.4qts behind on oil, and have been driving it on no oil for over half the oil change. If a car is 1 qt of oil low after 3k miles, its either leaking somewhere or its burning it off. Engines shouldnt burn any oil since they got rid of saturns 2 years ago. ive never had it low on oil after 3 or 4k miles, not by 1 drop.

lol 1 quart of oil every 1000 miles? im a mechanic and ive never heard that one. So...let me know if my math is off, but 1 qt every 1k miles, the oil change interval on the focus is roughly 10k miles according to ford, and the engine takes 4.6k qts with the filter, so after driving 10k miles you are now 5.4qts behind on oil, and have been driving it on no oil for over half the oil change. If a car is 1 qt of oil low after 3k miles, its either leaking somewhere or its burning it off. Engines shouldnt burn any oil since they got rid of saturns 2 years ago. ive never had it low on oil after 3 or 4k miles, not by 1 drop.

Mines not losing 1 quart every 1000. It was blowing about a quart or 1/2 quart 3-4000 miles. All the dealer did was monitor it,as I was. It appears to be getting better. I have 17,000 on it now and at around 16,000 it was about 1/3rd below the first hole. At 17,000 it was in the middle of the hash marks. Thats with 7,000 miles after my last oil change. Still not acceptable in my eyes.Ford won't do anything about it but ignore the problem. I'm stuck with a motor that burns oil I guess.
My 2005 Silverado will go until it tells me it needs an oil change, 8-10,000 miles without burning a drop. I could probably let it go until the oil turned black and it would still be full. I had a Golf also and that didn't burn a drop. I'm hoping this problem will continue to get better as time goes by or the rings seat more.

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